Each time I open a project I receive a message saying---" The project is stored inside its automatic backup folder. This could result in a potential loss of data ---it is recommended you close the project and move it to a different location.""I'm unsure what I'm doing wrong, as I had assumed that storing the project inside its automatic backup folder would be the right thing to do.

I'm still coming to terms with using Scrivener, and I'm sorry if this is a stupidly basic question--but I would like some help on the matter. I have looked at the videos and manual, but don't see an obvious suggestion as to what I should do.Dougal

As Lunk says, you'll want your live project in a folder that is not the backups folder. So, for instance, you might have:

My Writing - a folder containing all of your live writing projects.Scrivener Backups - a folder containing automatic backups (you can set this in the Preferences).

When you close a project, Scrivener will make a copy of that project in the "Scrivener Backups" folder. By default, it will only keep the five latest backups around, deleting earlier ones (again, this is something you can change in the Preferences).

Depending on your settings, problems could emerge if you have your live project in the backup folder, because Scrivener might try to overwrite it with a backup of itself or delete it to make way for a new backup before creating the backup, thus destroying your project. Thus Scrivener warns you that you shouldn't keep live projects in the automatic backups folder.

You can easily navigate to the backups folder by opening Scrivener's Preferences ("Preferences..." in the "Scrivener" menu and clicking on the "Open backup folder..." button under "Backups". You can then move any live projects to another folder (make sure they are closed first). Alternatively, you can change the location of the backups folder in the same area of the Preferences.